Sunday, 15 March 2015

Dinner - Black Swan State Theatre Company (14 March 2015)

Saturday night was the first preview of the Moira Buffini
black comedy Dinner starring Rebecca Davis, Stuart Halusz, Greg McNeill,
Kenneth Ransom, Steve Turner, Alison Van Reeken and Tasma Walton and directed
by Kate Cherry. It is the tale of the dinner party from hell as hostess Paige
(Walton) celebrates the successful release of her husband’s self-help book with
a few select friends.

It quickly turns out that Paige and her spouse Lars (Steve
Turner) aren’t exactly the happiest of couples as they await the arrival of
artist Wynne (Van Reeken) and her politician beau Bob (a no show due to a breakup
prompted by an unfortunate Wynne portrait); and Sian (Davis), the jaded
“sexpot” newsreader, and her older husband, microbiologist Hal (McNeill) on a
foggy English evening. An imposing waiter (Ransom), especially hired for the
evening, has explicit instructions as he silently goes about his work. Paige is
put out by Wynne’s solo arrival as everything has been carefully planned. A
further spanner is thrown into the works when Mike (Halusz) turns up asking to use a telephone after having an accident due to the fog.

What follows is a bout of verbal sparring as the bitchy
Paige serves increasingly ridiculous dishes seemingly designed to humiliate her
guests and husband. Mike’s arrival adds a new dynamic as his real purpose for
being there is revealed and he is decidedly not of the usual ilk these people
would associate with. A further trial is introduced as Paige insists on a game
to be played whereby she asks each person in turn to spend two minutes talking
to a subject she has placed in separate envelopes. It all ends in tragedy as
twists and revelations come to the fore.

While the plot is really no more than an excuse to put
various character types in close proximity and watch them dangle, there are
some genuinely funny moments here. Walton, resplendent in a figure hugging
designer gown, is all tightly wound vitriol as she prods and torments and abuses
all and sundry. Davis, elegant and leggy in another designer dress, is blunt
and aloof as Sian amusingly speaks her mind without any kind of filter or care
for others’ judgements. Turner gives Lars a certain self-satisfied smugness
with all the self-help mumbo-jumbo a counterpoint to Paige’s venom. He portrays
the husband’s increasing annoyance and frustration with her more as a slow fuse
than outright explosion.

Van Reeken’s Wynne who is in love with Lars is the sort of
new age, vegetarian, earth mother artist who despises the C word (which gets
quite the work out) that would rile any dinner guest after a while. McNeill’s
Hal is accomplished but unhappy even with a new trophy wife. Paige’s attacks on
him, particularly in reference to his first wife and love of his life, are most
cruel. Then there’s Mike who is a necessary wildcard to proceedings and a
catalyst for further mischief. Halusz initially plays him as the
straightforward working class man who has stumbled into something out of his
usual reckoning but slowly becomes cockier as he takes stock of who he’s up
against. That he forms an alliance of sorts with Paige is most subversive.

The dinner table is set on a revolving platform that is
always in motion as the meals are served which allows us to see all of the
actors’ expressions and reactions as scenes progress. The table itself and
chairs are see-through plastic to help with visibility in what otherwise could
have been a static and visually awkward presentation. I especially liked the
use of smoke effects to depict the fog whenever the outside door was opened as
various characters escaped for a breather or to liberate misfortunate
crustaceans. Indeed the ‘live lobsters’ were a fascinatingly dark comic moment.

There were points the pace flagged – notably when the two
minute discussions switched to Lars and Wynne’s back story. Other characters
became mere spectators especially the up-to-that-point talkative Mike so it
felt a little artificial and also a curious sequence in that it seemed to
favour Lars instead of belittle him. Given the ending (which, for mine, was
telegraphed anyway), I also didn’t quite understand what Paige’s real
intentions were in the various ‘movements’ of the dinner. The Mike character
ultimately felt like a device as the writing seemed to vacillate about who and
what he really was depending on the situation.

However, if you like your comedy jet black and your insults
like a dagger to the heart you’ll enjoy Dinner with its absurdist culinary
delights and vitriolic dialogue. There are two more previews on Monday and
Tuesday with the show opening on Wednesday 18th March and running until 29 March.